Girls' Best Friend?

Blood Diamond was impressive at best. The plot was so general and taboo that one is inclined to give credit to the filmmakers for tackling a topic so touchy. I bet it stepped on many important toes, and I'm just as sure that it didn't even begin to explore the whole messy and corrupt affair. That is the main problem of films that are ambitious enough to take on issues that are ruthlessly and tenaciously controlled by untouchable higher-ups. Other such films were early 2000's Traffic and 2005's Lord of War. It doesn't take one evil person to rule the world, and so it can only follow that it doesn't take one person to change it. It's a depressing thought, knowing that whatever good we strive to contribute to society, whatever help we can give, is almost useless. However, the writers attempted to lift our post-millennium cynical souls by inserting Danny Archer's noble and quixotic gesture towards the end. They finished with the idealistic, if cliché, "One man can make a difference" statement. Good for them. I, on the other hand, loather of sentimentality that I am, accuse the attempt of being unrealistic.

In many ways, the movie parodied itself. This is discernible in the female lead's Big Speech on her own stabs at making-the-world-a-better-place. So what if she is exploiting other people's grief by photographing them and writing dramatically subjective profiles on random sufferers, so what if all it does is move one person for five seconds, so what if it helps .0000001% of the needy? At least she's doing something. I'm glad she has that kind of hopeful defiance. It's more than I can say for MY pessimism.

The story itself is a little too smart, maybe a little too broad. Unless the audience has sufficient background knowledge on the history of war-torn Africa, movie-goers might be confused as to how exactly the diamond industry affects these people's lives. Are the diamonds the direct causes of death of the citizens? It's inevitable that the motives of the rebels-slash-villains would sway from worldly material possessions to political convictions. They are all interconnected. But then again, it takes away the focus of the movie. I wish they'd put more effort on informing the people on the many angles of the issue, but I guess that would compromise the entertainment factor. I can live with it. Djimon Honsou's chilling and powerful performance as an honest but distressed father distracted me from the many protests forming in my mind, and His Royal Hotness Leonardo di Caprio's grown-up stubble made up for all the missing links.

The portrayal of the female lead as an educated and passionate woman, yet not exempt from using women's wiles to get what she wants begs objection, but she did inspire me to go one step further and use whatever I have to be part of a cause bigger than myself. Who knows, I might bump into my very own former-teen-idol.

On the whole, it encourages compassion for those that are less fortunate than us; it promotes conscience and an awareness of the prevalent corruption all over the world. If, after seeing the movie, you change your mind about that rock you so desire to be married in, then it has served its purpose, and you have put in your two, rather valuable, cents.